Monday, August 24, 2009

I took down some whiteboards (from IKEA, which suck because the pen will not wash off them!). I had to repair the walls and repaint. I found the original paint in the basement so total cost: FREE. It's tough to repaint the same color, because you can't see where you've been. I positioned a work lamp on the floor so I could see my painting progress. I tried to sell these IKEA racks at the garage sale, but luckily no one knew what they were for when they were lying on the driveway. So I decided to put them up. Very useful for drying clothes.The clock you see below is from my very first IKEA trip in 1998. I think it was less than 5 bucks. I cleared out some clutter, found receipts from 1993 in a "save your receipts" folder from Dayton's. Relabeled some containers and threw out a bunch of pens.

Even though these built in's are nice, it's hard to reach anything that you store there. My goals of my household re-org/re-dec are "access", "room function" and "vaccuum-ability".

Monday, August 10, 2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

The final concept for the bathroom is nothing like the original plans. It evolved over time. First the paint color decision, and then the knob & hardware decision, and then the artwork decision.

Invited to a friends for Chicago Style hotdogs & a Led Zeppelin imposter concert, I sorted through my drawers looking for an old concert t-shirt to wear. I didn't find one to wear, but in the mix I found 2 old shirts that I had bought in Vegas (1996) that I just couldn't part with. When I got to the party I noticed that chef Steve was wearing an old "Big Hed" t-shirt that he had got in New Orleans. It was the same brand as my Vegas shirts!

The orange/red towel's color drove the concept. So orange and red it is--mix that with my latest obsession for Elvis, the t-shirt brand BIG HED (no relation, funny enough, but these HEDs are) and concept was finalized.

I found shadow box frames at homegoods. Amazingly cheap at $7.99. The second frame was on clearance for $3 bucks, but I had to get glass cut at my local hardware store (two trips to the store were necessary for them to get the cut right).

I thought it was neat that when you look in the mirror, you actually see a tryptych (three pictures). And the cheaping slot machine completes the picture. So project finis and time to move on to the playroom.

The best hand drying solution would have been the old-time cloth rotating towel machine. Or the new Dyson fast drying systems for home use. Dyson has been getting credit for these machines, but they have been around in Europe for a while. At $1400, it's not an option for home use.

I was thinking about sewing the leading edges of the towel together to make a loop. Maybe buttons would help with getting it on and off the towel bar. But I nixed that idea. I just folded Toftbo on the bar, showcasing the great IKEA colors.

And what do you hang above the towel bar? A neat old game I bought at the flea market years ago. Perfect!

I went to 3 HomeGoods stores searching for shadowboxes. Even though I'm "all about IKEA" when it comes to decorating, sometimes I'm drawn to classic and wonder where this could go:
Maybe this could go in the corner of the bedroom:
I loved the GIANT container outside the store. The bowl is probably 6 feet in diameter.